Fire and Ice
by fireandiceclipse
Summary: Tara is a firebender and a waterbender. Can she deal with the two opposite elements raging inside of her? Kataang and Tokka.
1. Chapter I: Freedom

Author's note: Yeah so I uploaded my story and I might put more up if I get bored. Oh and please give me reviews! I really want to know what you guys think. Be nice though! This is my first story. Disclaimer: i do not own avatar or any of the characters.

Chapter I:

"Tara!"

My head snapped up from where it was resting on the desk. I was daydreaming, as usual, about water bending.

"Just what pray tell," my teacher sneered, "were you doing?"

"….."

I couldn't tell my fire bending teacher I was dreaming up new ways to water bend. Yeah, that's right I'm a water bender and a fire bender. It's very rare. My father, Hiroshi, was a fire nation general that led the attack on the southern water tribe. My mother was a powerful water bender that defended our tribe. After the fire nation took over, all the existing water benders were captured, including my mother. They were put into fire nation prisons and had dry air pumped into the cells and had to be tied up before allowed drinking water.

My father was demoted after his failure at Ba Sing Se beside the general Iroh, the fire lord's own brother. Iroh and my father were very close friends but after Iroh's son Lu Ten was killed in the war, Iroh neglected everything that wasn't about his family. Anyway, my father was demoted to guarding the southern water tribes' prison cells. My father told me that they met while my mother was escaping. He usually tells a wild story about how he fell in love with her at once and demanded that she be let free. But I found my mother's old diary. She wrote in it from before the fire nation attacked all the way up to when I was born. She wrote how my father was the only guard that didn't beat her up. I laughed every time I read the part where my father would walk up to her, stare, try to say something, and walk away embarrassed. The father my mother knew was very different then the way everyone else knew him. Hiroshi is now unafraid, bold, serious, confident and totally unhappy. He only smiles when I fall over or do something to disgrace myself. I guess he misses my mom.

Anyway, I should get back to the present….

"Well, Ms Tara?" Master Hisa asked viciously. "Is there a reason why you aren't writing down our lesson?"

The other students looked at me. With pity. My father would shudder if ever a Long was looked on with pity in his presence.

"I'm very sorry Master," I put on my sugary voice, "I must have been too excited with our lesson that I forgot to take notes."

The class tittered.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again." She replied curtly as she turned around to talk about offensive jing and other stupid fire nation crap.

I officially hated my father for enrolling me in this nightmare. A year ago I was excited because I thought I would love fire bending like I love water bending. I'd never tried it because I was a little afraid of fire. But as the first week wore on, I soon realized that the fire bending academy was about learning in a classroom, not actually learning fire bending… Let's put it this way, if I could bang my head against my desk without the teacher sending me to see the principle, I definitely would. Every day for two years I would sleep in class and pray that the dismissal bell would ring early.

Today was one of those rare occasions that my wishes actually came true. The dismissal bell rang and I jumped up and ran before anybody could stop me. I was flat out sprinting when someone grabbed me. I had my water bending stance up before I could see who it was. Jiro, who is my jet black hair and god like featured best friend. I could see in all the rich girls' snobby faces that they would kill to be where I was... which is probably not a good thing in a fire bending academy. Jiro and I were as thick as thieves ever since he found my water bending secret. Grinning, Jiro grabbed me and threw me in the nearest broom closet. It was pitch black and it probably wasn't helping that he was hugging me in the tight space and that I was blushing furiously.

"Jiro?! Wha-?" I asked breathlessly.

"Shhhhh!"

I could hear all the students and teachers all talking at once, wondering why the bell rung early.

Then I heard our principle yell "Everyone back to your classrooms! This is a juvenile prank and I will find out who did it."

I heard the murmurings of students being herded back to their classrooms and then silence.

Jiro shifted to the door and peeked outside.

"Coast is clear! Let's go!" He helped me out of the closet and shut the door behind me.

He motioned for me to follow and started jogging towards the exit.

"Where the heck are we going?" I asked happily.

"Where else?" He said turning around to shock me with his gorgeous blue eyes.

Grinning I sped up to run next to him. We ran out the door, not bothering to hide from the fire nation soldiers guarding the school. We've broken out so many times they don't even chase us anymore. Annoyance flickered in their eyes as we passed but they just watched us go as usual. Slowing down to a walk we walked into the small rural town that consisted of a thicket of houses, a drugstore, a grocery store and a small ramen restaurant. Outside of town there was a thick forest that ran on all the way to the earth nation. Naturally we were forbidden to go past the last house but just like school, people saw us go into the forest and didn't even bother to chase us. We stuck to the little path that ran right next to the river. We followed the river until we saw the fallen log that lay across the river. Jiro, as always, held my hand to make sure I didn't fall in as I did so many times when we were young. I didn't lose my balance anymore, thanks to water bending, but I liked to pretend I was still clumsy so I could hold his hand. After pulling me across the fallen log, an old shack was waiting for us. Broken down, abandoned and forbidden was all the qualities that made it feel like home.

"Ms. Tara." Jiro said, holding the door for me.

"Why thank you, Mr. Jiro" I replied, mimicking my father's haughty voice. It worked and he laughed.

I stepped inside and sighed with contentment. Inside was just as shockingly ugly as the outside. There was an old earth nation poster on the wall, a faded green couch and stairs that led upstairs to the roof. Jiro bounded up the stairs and whooped with glee. Laughing, I ran behind him and yelled too.

"That was the best escape plan you've had yet, Jiro!" I yelled, jumping up and down.

Grinning, he turned to me and said slyly "Even better then the time I blew up the principle's office and we jumped out the 2nd floor window?"

"Actually that was my favorite time!" I said while spinning around. "That got us out of class for two weeks!"

"Haha! That was only 'cause we broke our arms and couldn't write." He replied back.

I couldn't help but giggling until I was on the floor. Jiro joined in and soon we were laughing so hard we sent the crows, that lived in the trees around the shack, flying with fear. When we were both sitting with our backs to the walls gasping for breath, Jiro pulled out a little square package wrapped in newspaper clippings.

"Happy Birthday Tara." He said grinning like a mad man.

"You remembered." I felt like crying. My own father couldn't remember my birthday but Jiro could.

"Here," he said putting the gift in my hands, "open it."

Wondering what he could've possibly gotten me, I carefully opened the gift. A velvet black box was inside the paper and when I opened it, I actually did cry.

"What?" I saw Jiro's shocked expression as he saw the tears come from my eyes."Why in the world are you crying?" he asked as he hugged me.

"It's just…it's so nice and… you're the best friend I've ever had Jiro." I sniffed.

Jiro had probably saved up for a year to get me this. In the velvet black box was the water tribe symbol on a light blue rock that was tied onto a black ribbon. A water tribe necklace was what I'd been wanting for years.

"Here," Jiro said smiling softly, "let me put it on you."

I turned around and he brought the necklace to my neck and tied it loosely.

"I don't think people will be too pleased to see me wearing this…" I said turning around and when I did, I instantly wished I'd hadn't. His face was 2 inches away from my face. I looked towards the river to keep my face from turning red.

"Ah screw the fire nation. All they do is try to keep us from thinking." At these words I turned back and stared at him in wonder.

"Are you saying that you hate the fire nation?" I accused.

"No I'm just saying that I hate their ideas." Jiro turned away not meeting my eyes.

"What?" I asked worriedly.

"It's nothing."

"Is it another one?" as I asked this his eyes turned hard. His silence answered my question.

"Did you burn it yet?" I asked quickly.

"No."

"Can I see it?" I asked looking up into those blue eyes.

Sighing, Jiro took out the fire nation military ad and handed it to me. It was crumpled which showed how much Jiro had wanted to rip it. But no, he had said one time; this was the sort of thing that everyone couldn't help but feeling happy burning. The bright blue paper had evil looking drawings of a grim reaper look-a-like water bending. The spiky letters read "Save our great nation from the demons that torment our fellow brothers and sisters. Help us rid the world of the undesirables. Join fire nation army today." On the bottom was a sketch of a fire nation family with two children and a mother cowering away from the water bender. One child's cheek was bleeding and had an icicle impaled in his arm. Trying not to be angry I set my hand and the paper on fire. Jiro watched the trees. He was probably trying to hide this from me for awhile. As soon as there was nothing left to the paper I cooled my hand and stood up.

"Jiro" I said softly.

"Yeah?" he replied remorsefully.

"Let's go practice." I said suddenly grinning with excitement.


	2. Chapter II: whoot! Plot line!

_Author's note: Yesss! Take that! I am smarter then the average bear! I figured out how to submit chapters and not the whole story! Hopefully none of y'all saw the spoilers... Anyway, I really liked this chapter. I thought it was really hard to keep up with the original A.T.L.A.B. character's personalities... Hopefully i didn't get too out of hand with them. Yeah...my poor mind wrote two more chapters and now i'm going to go try to think up ideas by sleeping. I might update sunday or monday... I'm really forgetful so don't expect it to be up at a certain time... Enjoy! I know i did : )_

Chapter II:

A small smile rose to his face as he punched me softly and bounded down the stairs. Grinning I jumped off the roof and bended the water to catch me, as I always did and landed softly on the ground in front of Jiro. And as always, Jiro watched me with awe. I call myself a water bending master but Jiro was a firebending genus. Together we'd practiced and helped each other with new moves for years. He'd offer to teach me how to fire bend better, but as I said before, fire bending is boring and hard. I'd rather be flowing and gliding with water. We both took our stances and stared into each other's eyes waiting for the other to attack. Slowly and sneakily, with one finger I bended a tendril of water forward and willed it to wrap around his leg. Surprise flitted against his face as I bended the water to ice and raced forward. A quick display of firebending through his feet and he was free and moving to the left. Using the water from the river, I created a ice platform on which I skated on in mid air, chasing after Jiro and dodging his fire blasts. Adrenaline pulsed through my veins as I stopped the ice from coming and flew over his head and landed right in front of him. He obviously wasn't expecting that and ran right into me, knocking us down. Laughing, we rolled down the hill and into the pond that was sitting at the bottom of the hill. Sputtering and untangling himself from me, Jiro said, "Maybe landing exactly in front of me wasn't a good idea, Tara."

"Ha! I just miscalculated. It would've been better if you didn't move so fast." I retorted jokingly.

"Maybe you just move too slow." He said bringing his face closer to mine. My head swam as I tried to keep from fainting. I could honestly say that the only thing screaming in my mind was _he's going to kiss me! He's going to kiss me!!! _

His lips were only a fraction of an inch away when I heard a girl's voice yell "Get away from that water bender!"

And with that Jiro was jerked away by a huge wave. Dazed, I just stared at the girl in a blue dress slowly incasing Jiro in ice. I only snapped out of it when Jiro yelled in pain. She was hurting him. Acting fast I melted Jiro's ice coffin and swept water at the girl and froze the water in one wave of my hand.

"Don't you touch him!" I yelled at her advancing.

Giving me a quizzical look the girl melted the ice and stared at me.

"Wasn't he attacking you?" she asked, confused.

"Of course not," I replied forcefully, "We were practicing."

"Oh." She replied.

Only when it seemed that she wasn't going to attack anymore, did I slide out of my offensive stance and walked over to Jiro sitting in the pond.

"Are you alright?" I asked looking for injuries.

Shocked, Jiro stared at the other girl.

"Another water bender…" was all he said.

Warily, I turn on the girl.

"Who are you?" I asked roughly.

She seemed embarrassed and she shuffled her feet nervously.

"I'm Katara. I'm from the southern water tribe. And I'm sorry for attacking. I didn't know." She said as she looked anywhere but the boy.

Sighing in annoyance I replied, "I'm Tara and this is Jiro. We live in the village on the other side of those trees." I said as I was pulling Jiro to his feet.

Looking at Katara in slight awe, Jiro said "You're a long way from home. How did you get here?"

Again, Katara looked like she was hiding something. That's when I heard the yelling.

"Kataaarraaaaaaa!" a boy's voice called. How many were there?

That's when a fuzzy black haired kid with strange blue arrow tattoos and an orange and yellow outfit came bounding into the clearing, across the pond. He literally flew over the pond and landed neatly in front of Katara.

"Katara?" he was hopping up and down, not noticing Jiro and I. "Where have you been? Sokka and I've been looking for you everywhere! We said we were going to meet at the shack hours ago! Toph is already there!"

"Aang," Katara said nervously

"What?" he said, oblivious.

"There are some people I want you to meet." She said sweetly.

"Where?!" he said as he finally turned around.

All I could do was stare open mouthed at him.

"Oh! Hello there! I'm Aang!" when I didn't answer him he asked "What's your name?"

"I…You….You're an air bender!" was all I could think of to say to him.

Looking nervously around, Aang shushed me and said "Hey! Could you keep that quiet? There's a fire nation village over there and someone could hear you!"

"I'm from that village…" I stated lamely

"Oh, well then aren't you going to run away and tell the soldiers?" he asked good naturedly.

"Of course I'm not!" I said

"Aang?" Katara said, "Tara is another water bender."

Aang's eyes flickered to Katara worriedly and away. I looked at Jiro to see how he was taking this. His face however looked like Christmas came early.

"And who is this?" Aang said curiously, looking at Jiro.

"I'm Jiro…" he said

"Hey" The strange arrow headed boy said.

"Are you the avatar?" Jiro asked hurriedly.

"Yeah I am." Aang said. And as he said that I couldn't help but to question his sanity. He looks like he's 12 and acts like it too. He couldn't be. Could he?

"You're not just kidding around?" I asked doubtfully.

Aang demonstrated by first flying into the air then water bending his landing and then making a chair for himself with rocks. For the second time in that day, I stared stupidly at Aang with my mouth wide open.


	3. Chapter III: Intros

_Author's note: haha! I lied! i'm updating now instead of sunday! mwa ha ha ha! Anway I was kinda disapointed in this chapter but it builds up for the next one. i hope you enjoy. And again constructive critisism is appreciated. Thanks guys: P_

Chapter III:

"Do you know the way back to town? We're kind of in need of an inn." Aang said brightly.

It took me a moment to recollect my thoughts that were now screaming _he just flew in the air! And earth bended! And water bended! _Again, Jiro's usual calm and cool expression was now mirroring mine, mouth wide open in shock.

"Um…yeah I know the way." I said shakily.

"Oh great!" Aang said happily. "But before that we need to catch up with Appa, Toph and Sokka. They're over by that old shack!"

Numbly, I followed the young avatar to our hideout. Aang ran inside and gathered their supplies. A boy about me and Jiro's age came walking out, his nose buried in a map. He had the same black as raven black hair that Katara had and it was tied up in a wolf tail. He wore blue clothing too. He must be from the southern water tribe too!

"Hey Sokka!" Katara called.

Glancing up from his map he took one look at Jiro's fire nation clothes and arranged his features into fury.

"Katara?! May I talk to you for a second?!" his voice kept cracking.

Katara and Sokka stood by a huge white mound that I just noticed appeared by the shack. They whispered furiously for a while until I heard Katara say "water bender". Sokka immediately became calm and strode back over to us and appeared apologetic.

"So you're from the Southern tribe, right? Good to see there's another water bender out there!" again he glanced at Katara nervously as he mentioned this. Were they afraid of other water benders or something?

Katara, taking no notice of this, walked back over.

"Tara was going to show us the nearest inn." She said smiling.

"Actually," I replied, "there aren't any inns in town. But I could see if it's alright to stay in my house."

"That'd be great!" Aang said bounding back outside. "But maybe we should leave Appa here… He's already comfortable and the village isn't that far away."

Curious to see who Appa was, I peeked inside the shack. But there was no one there. Just then the huge white mound roared.

"What was that?!" Jiro asked.

"Oh that's just my flying bison, Appa!" Aang called as he jumped on top of the white mound.

_Flying Bison?! _I thought._ You've got to be kidding me!_

But he wasn't as I inched towards the mound it moved its great head and licked me with an enormous rough and slimy tongue.

"Ewww!" I yelled jumping, back laughing.

Smiling and holding out a hand, like he would to a cat, Jiro stood next to me and rubbed Appa's huge nose. Appa licked Jiro too and he too yelled. Soon both of us were covered in Appa's spit.

"C'mon Toph! Wake up!" I heard Aang yell from Appa's back.

I heard a loud crash and saw Aang falling face first into the ground next to Jiro.

"I'm COMING!" a little high pitched voice yelled back.

Katara rushed to go help Aang up. Then a girl jumped down and as she landed, she made the earth move a little. I stifled a gasp. An earth bender too?! She stretched a little and I could see that her eyes were cloudy, like a blind person. Then she suddenly whipped her head towards us.

"Who are these people?" She asked Sokka rudely.

"Oh the girl is Tara and the other is Jiro. They're going to get us a place to stay, until we find where we're supposed to go next." He said, not even looking up from his map.

"Hi…" I said not sure what I should say next.

Still staring at us weirdly, she was shifting her feet.

"They're both fire benders." She said ominously.

"No Toph. Tara's a water bender." Sokka replied distantly.

How did she know? Can she feel vibrations or something?

"I feel like there's three people there though. Two fire benders and a water bender." This girl was starting to give me the creeps.

"Maybe your vision's fuzzy." Sokka looked around though, just in case there was another fire bender.

"Yeah…maybe." Toph said while kicking a rock.

Aang was getting back up by the time the weird conversation was over.

"C'mon Tara! Show us the way!"

Jiro and I showed the strange group the fallen log and then the path. Sokka was busy marking the path on his map.

"Tara?" Katara walked next to me. "Are you sure it's ok? I mean we could just stay out here." She said watching Toph and Aang having a rock battle. Jiro laughed at this.

"Of course it'd be all right. Tara's house is the biggest in the whole village!" He said.

"Yeah I take in travelers all the time…" Again, Tara felt sadness that her father didn't care who was staying in his house.

When we got to the end of the path, Jiro stopped us.

"Wait, you all look like earth and water nation. Do you guys have other clothes? Or do we have to steal some?"

"No we got disguises." Aang answered excitedly holding out a bag for us to see.

Jiro dug through it and said, "Yep. Those'll work. We have to walk through town, so do you mind changing into them?"

"Ok!" Katara said brightly.

Jiro led them as far as the first house and led them inside. I had no clue that the Hongs didn't live there anymore. It was empty and the girls went in one room and the guys in another. Jiro and I shared excited looks.

"Hey Jiro?" I asked out of the blue.

"Yep?"

"Do you want to sleep over again?" I was grinning.

"Ha! I was wondering if I had to sneak in to catch all the action." He smiled at me so intensely, that my heart did a flip flop. I had to look away to keep from blushing. How many times was I going to do that today?

"Done!" Aang yelled as he and Sokka came out of the room. Sokka had a very waiter-looking suit on and had a sword in his hilt. Aang had an old fire nation academy uniform on and had a fashionable head scarf on with a fire nation insignia etched in to hide his arrows.

"Wow…you guys really look like fire nation now!" Jiro said giving Aang a high five.

"Are we all ready?" Katara asked while coming in the room with a red tank top and a dark red skirt. She even did her hair up like mine. I liked her in her old hair style though. Toph, following behind her, had short gold and black pants, a matching red, gold and black tank top completed with a gold headband.

"Let's go see the Long's glorious estate!" Jiro said excitedly to the rest.

Laughing I followed him and walked next to Katara. The market was deserted and dark.

"Where is everyone?" Sokka asked, looking around.

"Oh," I said, "its past curfew…shoot."

"You guys have curfew?!" Toph asked, shocked.

I looked at Jiro worriedly.

He smiled reassuringly at me. "Don't worry! Those thugs never come past here!"

Nothing ever fazes Jiro. But even as he said this, I noticed him walk a little faster. As we walked past the school, I saw some figures sleeping. _Lazy drunks…_

Suddenly I felt a hand grab me by the shirt and push me to the ground.

"So!" I smelled alcohol on the soldier's breath, "You have the nerve to sneak around even past curfew!" As he said this, I felt sharp metal on my neck.

"It was an accident, sir." I heard Jiro say. Oh boy I must be in trouble if he's bothering to suck up. "Honestly sir, my friend wasn't feeling well so we took him to the drug store but we couldn't figure out which medicine he needed. I'm so very sorry we took so long, sir." Even as Jiro said this without emotion, I could hear the tension in his voice.

"I've had just about enough with you punks!" The sword was pressed deeper on my neck and I gasped. "You're always skipping school and not treating the fire nation with respect!" To my right I saw Sokka step behind the soldier and very discreetly lift his club over the soldier's head.

"Ya know what I think? I think I should arrest you all for trea-," The sword was suddenly taken away from my neck and I heard a dull thud. Jiro helped me up and we were practically running to my house.


	4. Chapter IV: Bonding with Dad

**_Author's note: Okay don't ask me if this is how my real life is because my life is soo opposite from this it's not even funny. Anyway I thought this chapter was really well done. This is where you get to know more about my characters...except Jiro... I'm going to dedicate a whole chapter about him one day. Okay so enjoy and hopefully i didn't overdo the drama..._**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own The Avatar series or their characters. _**

Chapter IV:

"Did he hurt you?" Jiro asked as we rounded the corner onto my street.

"No. I'm fine, Jiro." I said, rushing to get inside my house.

The truth is I'm not really rich. My house is an averaged sized house but Jiro loved to joke about our estate since we owned one of the biggest houses in…well in the entire village. As I hurried everyone in, I locked the door. My house was pretty average on the inside, a downstairs complete with a living room, a kitchen, two bathrooms, a dining room, 2 downstairs rooms (one was mine and the other was my father's) and a porch on which I used to drink lemonade with my father. Upstairs we had 2 guest rooms for my father's old military friends, two bathrooms and an attic full of stuff from my mom. My father hated going up in the attic. I think it reminded him too much of my mom.

Anyway we snuck in and hauled everyone's stuff upstairs to the rooms they would be sharing. Hopefully they would get good and settled in before my father would wake up.

Did I tell you that my luck was running out?

As I was showing everyone around upstairs, I heard an angry voice;

"Tarania?! Get down here right now!"

I felt like a traitor about to be hanged walking down those steps. I faced my father, who had my shiny black hair and my chin but my blue eyes and face was my mother's. Years of age has withered away on my father's good looks. And it wasn't helping that he had his features lined with fury.

"How dare you?!" He spat at me. "You run away from school, AGAIN! And now you come past curfew?!" he was raising his voice. I knew he would soon talk himself out and that's when I could explain my actions.

"Do you want to die? Is that it? Because if that soldier comes down here to report that you've run away again, I just know he's going to get suspicious!" Now he was trying to put the blame on me. _I'm sorry, old man, but I know all your tricks._

"No father." I said softly, trying to calm him down before he would bring up the subject that makes me loose control.

"Don't you see that you've got a chance in this world, child?! Your mother never had that chance!"

He did it now, he brought up mother. I would lose control, as always.

"Don't you bring her up!" I retorted back. "She died because she caught a disease! I. DID. NOT. KILL. HER!"

"With the way you're acting right now, you very well could have killed her!" he roared.

"Well then, maybe it was you who killed her!" I countered viciously.

Shock was written all over his face.

"What?" he said softly.

"You kept her locked up like an animal! She probably died of no sunlight."

Again I would regret this later, but for now all I could think of was how badly I wanted to hurt him. He would never understand how badly I miss the man who once smiled. But ever since she fell ill, he never smiled, never laughed and never sat on the porch and sipped lemonade with me. He forgot all of the occasions, such as Christmas, my birthday was a big one, and he even forgot the solstice, even though he could hear the party outside, he would never join in and laugh. He had "too much work to finish" even though he was retired. All he ever cared about was their stupid anniversary, which he would light a candle with me and then go sit in his room. Alone. And in the dark.

"Tell me father," I wanted him to understand, "what day is it?"

Confused on the direction of our conversation, he paused for an instant.

"The 21st, of May. Why?"

Disgustedly, I turned away.

"Think back on this date 15 years ago."

Silence. Even upstairs, which I knew they were listening.

"Thank you for embarrassing me in front of our guests, father. I'll go show them around and then I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

I heard my father walk away. I hope he would finally see what a mess he's made. I went upstairs and found everyone busily opening their suitcases, even though they had been here for almost fifteen minutes.

"Um…guys?"

Jiro was already waiting at the top of the steps. The rest peeked out of their doors.

"So I discussed it and my father says you can stay."

"Yeah…a really loud discussion." Toph murmured. Katara elbowed her and I pretended not to hear.

"Um…see you all in the morning." I turned away and walked down the stairs.

Jiro followed me to the porch. I stared at the vast ocean that was in our backyard, trying not to cry. I remembered running on the beach with my parents, not thinking that I would lose both of them. I started weeping into my hands and only when Jiro held me, did I start full out crying.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry." I sobbed into his chest.

"What are you sorry for?" Jiro said softly.

"For crying on you." I gasped.

"What are friends for?" he said rocking me.

I felt so stupid for crying with Jiro here. But I knew that he knew me too well and if I tried to hide it, he would find me out. Jiro was all the family I had left. My father only noticed me if I did something wrong. But Jiro was always there for me as I was always there for him. I wondered what would happen if I lost him too. Finally, I stopped bawling into Jiro, and he followed me to my room.

No, it wasn't like that. Jiro had been over so many times now that I got a couch for my room so he could sleep there. It still had Jiro's messy form imprinted in the blankets from when he slept over last night. He knew the drill. It was same old same old at the Long's. The fights, the endless silence, and the feeling of independence the next morning. My father wouldn't bother with trifling things such as making breakfast or waking us up. Once I dressed in the bathroom and got settled in my bed, I started thinking about my messed up birthday. Well at least it was as bad as last year's or the year my mother died. Hopefully my new friends wouldn't judge my performance towards my father.

"G'night, Tara." Jiro yawned.

"Night, Jiro." I answered.

"Don't worry; everything will be better in the morning. You'll see." He replied back.

I didn't reply. It always was a sad house after one of our fights.

"Plus," Jiro said slyly, "remember who your guests are. The avatar!"

"Yeah…" I said suddenly grinning.

"Maybe he'll teach us some moves tomorrow." He said excitedly.

"If we don't get killed by the principle tomorrow at school." I said laughing.

And of course we fell asleep giggling.


	5. Chapter V: Oh the drama!

Author's note: I want to say something to some of my readers. Some of the reviews I got was very helpful and was very considerate. But those people who called my story mary-sueish or cheesy I want to say that is something I don't need. I said constructive criticism. I don't want or need tauntings of a three year old. I know I don't stick to the avatar plot line or make some of the avatar characters the same way they are on the show. If you don't like my original characters you don't need to call me names. For goodness sakes it's just a story. There is no need to insult me. I suggest if you are tempted to make rude notes to me about how you hate me and my ideas then go outside and do something worthwhile with your anger. It doesn't bother me what any of you think of me. All that I care right now is how my writing is improving. If you think there is something I should be doing or some way I can make the story better, by all means I want to know! Thank you very much and please don't be rude up here because again I don't care what anyone thinks of me.

Chapter V:

The next morning, I was rudely shaken awake.

"Tara! Wake up!" I woke up to Jiro's sky blue eyes.

"Good morning." I mumbled sleepily.

"Tara, Toph forgot and…" Jiro said hurriedly. "You better come see!"

Pulling me out of bed, Jiro's face looked stressed.

"What happened?" I said as I was pushed up the stairs.

"Toph kinda bended the wall out…" Jiro said tiredly.

"What did my dad do?" Was my horrified question.

"He's not up yet. I just checked."

As we got into the room I saw Katara and Toph trying to stuff the wall with pillows and blankets.

"Um I'm not sure that'll work from the outside…" I said while I was coming in.

Panicked, Katara started apologizing over and over.

"No. Look, guys its ok! I can fix it up with some boards and then put the siding back up later. It's fine. I bet my dad won't even notice."

At the mention of my father, the room fell awkwardly silent.

"Breakfast will be ready in a sec." I said walking out.

Jiro followed me to the kitchen.

"Soooo… Are we just flat out skipping school today in honor of our guests?" Jiro said while sitting on the counter.

"Yes! YES! No school! Then we can have a four day weekend!" I said while grabbing eggs and cracking them into the pan.

Katara came down the stairs and sat at the table.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" she said.

"Nah I like making breakfast." I replied cheerfully.

"I'm really sorry for this morning…. I kind of get on Toph's nerves a lot." She apologized again.

"No really it's fine. I've broken down those walls before." I was cooking the bacon and the toast now. "Are Aang and Sokka up yet?"

"Um yeah, they're on the porch. They're trying to figure out where the heck we're going." rolling her eyes as she said this.

"Uh I'll go tell them breakfast is ready." I said running towards the door.

I peeked through the glass on the porch door and saw Aang walking in circles and Sokka yelling something at him. Aang was obviously not listening. Opening the door I heard the heart stopping words:

"How can you tell we can trust-?" Sokka heard me open the door and stopped in mid-sentence.

"Um…" I said while watching Sokka look anywhere but at me. "Breakfast is almost ready…"

I ran back to the kitchen and stopped. Jiro was standing up looking at Katara in disbelief and he was blushing. When he saw me in the door, he tried to smooth his face. But I still could see his cheeks reddening.

"Now what's wrong?!" I asked a little forcefully.

"Um…I'll go see if Toph is ready yet." He said ducking his head and running upstairs.

"What's wrong with him? And why the heck was he blushing?!" I asked Katara.

She just laughed.

"Maybe he'll tell you if you persuade him." She said evilly.

Before I could ask her what she meant, Jiro ran down the stairs with huge rocks flying at his head. Bewildered, Katara and I just stared.

"She was sleeping!" He yelled in disbelief. "And all I said was that her breakfast was ready and she started throwing rocks at me!"

We started laughing.

"I told you she doesn't like being woken up!" Katara said through gasps.

I wondered how my father could still be sleeping with all this drama and noise. Katara ran upstairs and soon enough we heard yelling. Sokka and Aang came in and sat next to Jiro at the table. Again, Sokka wouldn't look at me and that confirmed my suspicions that he was talking about me. I set the food on the table and ran upstairs to try to see if I could help. Sure enough there was more rocks flying and Katara was actually fighting with water.

"Stop!" I yelled over the sounds of rocks pummeling the wall.

They both looked at me.

"Please! Before I have to replace another part of the wall." I said.

"Sorry Tara." Toph mumbled at me.

"Here, breakfast is done and so when you guys are ready you can come down."

I shut the door and listened for what they were arguing at.

"No! Shut up Katara!" Toph was hissing. "She IS a firebender! I can feel it!"

"That's what you said when Azula was lying too!" Katara was whispering back. "She is not a firebender! I saw her water bend with my own eyes! And she's really good!"

Hearing enough, I angrily ran back downstairs. I found the three boys already eating and laughing over some joke Jiro just told. Worriedly, Aang asked if Katara and Toph were coming down soon.

"Yeah they're coming. They're just… straightening out some things." I said while grabbing some bacon and eggs on my plate.

"So," Jiro said setting down his glass, "what are you guys doing today?"

"Well, we were going to have a look around town and then maybe not get captured by soldiers today." Sokka said while looking at Aang accusingly.

"Whaat? It's not my fault they keep seeing my arrows!" he said defensively.

"Maybe if you kept your headband on then maybe they wouldn't keep noticing!"

Jiro laughed at this. Suddenly, Katara and Toph came downstairs and sheepishly started eating. And thus was my first morning with the avatar and his friends.


	6. Chapter VI: Dance or a Trap!

Author's note: now this is where it heats up! whoot! sry about that angsty email last week but it had to be done. So anyway this is more like a filler chapter but it's riddled with foreshadowing! hopefully some of you's can guess what the heck is going on w/ Jiro. i'll give a cookie to anyone who figures out where i got the name akito from! oh and i need ideas cuz i'm kinda stuck... anyone who's got a great idea for the gaang to do i'd be greatful if you submit it!

Chapter VI:

Jiro and I showed the group around town. It didn't last long since there wasn't much to show. But as we were heading toward the forest, a bunch of soldiers unfortunately spotted us.

"And where do you think you're going?" My blood chilled as I recognized the man who threatened us last night.

"Um…" was Jiro's smooth reply.

"Yeah! I didn't think so! All of you are going back to school right now!"

The soldier didn't remember anything from last night. So he grabbed me and Jiro by the arm and two other soldiers were handling the others. They dragged us all the way to school and dumped us into the classroom.

"There, Master Hisa. I caught these students skipping." The guard said trying to impress the teacher.

"Yes, yes Mr. Li. You can leave now, thank you." Master said shooing him out. "Well now! We've got new minds to mold. And all of you are?" She said looking at Aang and the rest.

"I'm Kuzon, ma'am." Aang said bowing just like a real fire nation student. I suspected him to have been tortured before.

"And the rest of you are?" She said leering at us.

Oh no…

"These are …uh Mai," he said pointing at Katara, "…Midori (Toph), and Kin (Sokka)." Katara and Sokka tried, unsuccessfully, to bow like Aang did. Toph didn't even bother to bow and this raised the teacher's eyebrows.

"Nice to meet all of you. Now take your seats before I give you all detention." She said roughly.

I sat next to Jiro in our usual desk towards the back, Aang and Katara sat next to each other in the front and Toph and Sokka took a desk next to ours.

"Has Aang been in a fire nation school before?" I whispered to Sokka.

"Yeah… What should we do?" he asked panicked.

"Just act cool and pray we don't have a test today." I whispered back as he nodded.

Jiro and I were playing tic tack toe on his homework when master Hisa slammed down two red flyers at our desks. Jiro groaned when he read it. Curious, I ignored Jiro as he started slamming his head on the desk. It said:

"The Fire Academy's annual boy's choice spring dance is scheduled for the 24th of May. All students are required to come and skippers will have extra homework and tests the next week. Formal wear is expected."

Puzzled, I looked at Jiro.

"Why is this so horrible?" I asked, confused.

"It's boy's choice! That means every girl in school will be hounding us." He said while wincing in pain.

I was smiling evilly as I replied, "I guess that means you'll just have to hurry up and ask someone."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Jiro gulp. I chuckled silently. This was just too perfect.

"Tara…?" He started.

"Yes?" I said turning to him expectantly.

"Um…" He said looking into my eyes. "Do you…?"

Just then Master Hisa was standing over us.

"Is there something you'd like to tell the class, Mr. Jiro?!" She was literally shaking with fury.

"N-no…ma'am." Jiro stammered.

"Then I suggest that we get back to actual learning. Don't you agree Ms. Tarania?" I winced as she used my full name.

"Yes ma'am."

She started lecturing from where she was so I couldn't talk to Jiro or daydream until she strode back to the front at the end of class. When the bell rang, Aang, Katara, Toph and Sokka all met up with us outside of the door. Sokka and Katara were now fighting.

"A required dance?!" Sokka said outraged. "Uh-uh! No! Out of the question!"

"But it might be fun! And we might…uh…learn something?" Katara said trying to convince him.

"No!" He said.

"Actually, they have your names down." Jiro said "And since it's a small town, they will hunt you down and probably find you."

"But this could go horribly wrong!" Sokka wailed.

"It's a dance, Sokka!" Toph said, appalling us all. "Not a trap!"

"Wait…" Aang said, confused. "Toph, you want to go?"

Looking at us like _we_ just said something strange, little Toph said:

"Well yeah! We could have some fun for the first time in like….months!"

We all stared at her. Toph, the one who threw a bolder through my wall, just said she wanted to go to a dance.

"But…but we don't have the clothes!" Sokka stammered.

"My father has stuff for everyone." I said smiling.

"But…but…" He could see he was defeated.

"Fine, but no bending!" He said frowning.

"Yay!!" Everyone was dancing. Sokka was groaning while Jiro patted him on the back.

"It's boy's choice." Jiro reminded him.

Just then I saw the hoards of girls staring at Jiro… _Back off hussies! He's mine!_ Suddenly, I heard a strange high pitched girly voice yelling over everyone.

"Jiiiirooooo! Come here! I want to talk to you!" It was Akito, the school's top fire bender. The rumor was that she had dated everyone in town, except Jiro. His face sinking, Jiro looked like he was about to pummel something.

"I better go see what she wants…" he said before stalking off. We stood there talking and waiting for him. They looked like they were arguing. I kept looking over at him to check to see if her face was bleeding yet every few seconds. Finally she threw her arms around him and he pulled them off. She wasn't crying or looking sad…my heart sunk just a little bit. When he came back, he looked calm enough. But I knew he was panicking.

"What'd she want?" Sokka asked.

"Um…nothing really." He said distantly. "Hey maybe we should go before it starts raining and Tara wants to bend the air."

I looked at him carefully and he smiled warmly at me. But he looked sick as he turned away, hiding his face from me.


	7. Chapter VII: Secrets

Author's note: soooo...right i'm kinda not stuck now but i am really really busy so i almost have no time to write so it might get a little chaotic now. But back to the story! whoo conflict! Angstness and fights! whooot! oh and tay and em get a cookie from the last post!

Chapter VII:

When we got home, I asked my father for permission to use some of his old suits and mother's old dresses. He mumbled something that sounded like a yes… So Sokka and Aang were trying on suits with Jiro and Katara and Toph were currently in my attic, sifting through various red, gold and black dresses.

"Ugh! Aren't you guys allowed to wear any other color?" Katara said frustrated.

"Nope…" I said sadly.

"Not even white?" Toph asked.

"No, that's water tribe's colors…" I said while my mind was somewhere else entirely. Jiro. Did he or did he not just agree to go to the dance with the most unoriginal girl in school?

Frustrated, Katara finally picked a red dress that was the same color as her fire nation shirt. Toph choose a black dress that was topped with red satin. I already had my dress hung up from a year ago when I got a dress too early and nobody asked me to the dance. It was one of those rare occasions when Jiro was visiting his cousin in New Ozai.

"Wait a minute…Tara?" Katara said walking over to the back of the room.

I snapped out of my reverie.

"What?" I asked trying to focus on what Katara was looking at.

"Where does that door lead to?" Katara said pulling a old military poster back farther.

Looking at the hidden door, I suddenly remembered finding it a couple years back when mother got sick. She begged me to bring her to the attic but then she told me to leave her with her thoughts. I sneaked back to see her close that door. But when I tried to open it, it was locked.

"Oh…actually, I don't really know…" I said watching Katara try to open it. Of course it was locked. But when I inspected the door closely, I found a strange circular lock. It was just a hole with blue paint around it.

"Maybe we're supposed to do something to this lock…" I said inspecting it closer.

Toph came up and put her hand against the door, to feel the vibrations.

"It still has water in there…" She said softly.

"What should we do, Tara?" Katara asked me.

"Maybe…" I had the strangest feeling that I'd been here in one of …my dreams maybe?

I slowly worked my hands fluidly upward to try to bend the water out of the lock. Finally I got every single drop and I put it into Katara's water bottle. There was a strange creaking noise and the door slowly swung open. Prodding me in the back, Katara motioned me to go first. I took a deep breath and walked in. Katara gasped and I just stared in awe. Inside the door was a small room decorated in blue and white rugs and carpets. There were animal pelts and dresses adorned with blue and a least a dozen pieces of jewelry sitting on a dresser. I slowly fingered through some of my mother's familiar necklaces. One was a silver pendant of a crescent moon and waves. I remembered her wearing this on the day she died… Taking Jiro's charm off of the satin ribbon, I put the charm next to the silver moon and put it on.

"I feel like we're back at the Southern water tribe…no the Northern water tribe definitely. This is too lavish for the South Pole!" Katara said excitedly, rummaging through some of the animal pelts.

"Is this what it looks like?" I asked quietly while I sat down on the white rug.

"Yeah…and sometimes we ate sea prunes." Katara said wistfully.

"It's beautiful then…" I asked wondering if this is where my mother went to think things over…

"Could we… I mean I think Sokka should see this…is it ok?" Katara asked putting her hand on my shoulder.

"No please I'd like for him and everyone else to see this…" I said closing my eyes.

"Oh! Ok! I'll go get him!" and with that, Katara rushed out of the room.

I sat in silence and noticed that Toph was sitting on the penguin-bear rug too.

"So…" Toph said slowly, "your mother really did come from the water tribe?"

"Yeah…" I murmured.

"I can sense things…like lies for instance." Toph said carefully.

"Oh?" I tried to sound interested.

"Yeah, and I can sense what um…kind of bender you are." She said, inspecting her fingernails even though she was blind. "I thought, at first, you were a fire bender. You have the same aura and the same temper. But now I can see I made a mistake and I'm …well …sorry." I looked at Toph with curiosity.

"Um…was that what you were fighting Katara about?" I asked cautiously.

"Yeah…but now I can see I can trust you. You're different from the rest of the fire nation. You and Jiro both are." She said matter of factly.

Before I could say anything else, Aang, Sokka and Jiro were in the secret door and all staring with wonder. I watched Jiro carefully, to see if his eyes were sad at all. But other then the sadness that was in them before, I saw pure joy when his eyes saw the blue room.

"Who built this?" Sokka asked in astonishment.

"My mother did…" I said quietly.

"This is…" Sokka trailed off.

"Amazing?" Aang offered.

"Yeah…"

"So uh Tara?" Jiro called to me, crossing the room.

"Yeah?" I said looking into his eyes, trying to figure out what was going on.

"What is that on your neck?" he asked looking down, obviously embarrassed by the intensity of my look.

"It was my mother's favorite necklace. I hope you don't mind what I've done with your charm…" I answered tonelessly.

"No actually it looks good behind the moon like that…" he replied. "Um…Tara? I should probably get going…" Jiro trailed off.

"Here, I'll walk you home…" I said trying to buy us some alone time. Usually we had nothing but alone time but now it seemed… like he was avoiding me. I followed Jiro to the door and he held the door almost like old times…only the atmosphere was tense. I realized we weren't talking or joking…and it scared me. It was something that never happened. When we rounded the corner to his house and he stopped in front of his front lawn.

"Thanks for walking me home, Tara…" he said pointedly.

Not able to take anymore I asked the question that had been burning a hole through my lips the entire trip home.

"Look, Jiro, what happened? You weren't like this before you talked to Akito." He wouldn't look at me. "You know you can tell me anything, Jiro…" I added.

"It's nothing. I really got to go now, Tara. I'll talk to you tomorrow." He started for the door.

I shouted the first thing that came to my mind, "Did you ask her to the dance?"

He stopped short; like he was surprised I asked that question. The longer he stood there, not saying anything, the more horrified of the answer I became. Finally he answered back the word that echoed in my mind for the rest of the night.

"Yes."

And with that he walked inside and shut the door without saying anything else.


	8. Chapter VIII: Like father like daughter

Author's note: i apologize for not updating in like months. i've kinda been really busy and i know that's like the most cliched line ever but... anyway sad chapter and i hope i haven't lost all my readers this last couple of months. :)

Chapter VIII:

I stood there dumbly staring at the door that had shut the happiness away from my world.

He didn't ask me.

He didn't want me.

He didn't say no to her.

My thoughts were spiraling out of control. What happened to us? My thoughts sprung back to the first time he started frowning. Was that because of me? What did I do? Maybe he had never liked me and I just dreamed up the part about him almost kissing me at the pond. Maybe I was just deluding myself. Maybe he was just pretending to like me so I wouldn't get upset. Maybe…maybe…maybe…

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't see that I had slowly started walking back to my house. I felt numb. I didn't see my house until I had my hand on the door knob. When I got inside, Katara and Aang were talking to me at the same time and it all sounded like they were talking underwater. I couldn't understand them so I didn't answer them. I walked numbly past them and into my room. I shut the door and lay down on the couch. The blankets still had Jiro's musky, woodsy smell on them.

Jiro.

I mindlessly started fingering my necklace. The water tribe charm that Jiro had to probably give up his life savings for.

Jiro.

Finally I started crying. And I couldn't stop until I was exhausted and finally, I passed out.

The morning came and I couldn't bear to take the covers off my head and see the bright, sunny, happy morning. I didn't see why my heart didn't just burst. Katara came in and said that breakfast was ready. I mumbled that I didn't want any. And she left. Later, she came back and told me that Aang asked her to the dance. I told her I was happy for her and honestly tried my hardest to give her a nice warm smile. The kind of smile Jiro just flashed at me and I was instantly glowing.

"Tara…?" she was worried. "Tara? I accidentally used the last of the eggs. I was going to the grocery store and I was wondering if you'd like to come with me."

"Sure." I heard myself say. "Gimme a sec…"

Maybe I'd feel better after getting some air. I brushed my teeth and got dressed and untangled my hair and put it into a nice, respectable fire nation bun.

"Ready?" Katara asked as soon as I came out of my room. Everyone was sitting at the kitchen table. Aang flashed me a worried look. I ducked my head before I could give away any emotion.

"Yeah…" I mumbled the answer to Katara's question.

We walked outside and towards town. I looked to the direction of Jiro's house, hoping I would be able to see him. I looked down, realizing how silly it was to think this. I could see Katara eyeing me worriedly out of the corner of my eye.

"Did something happen last night?" she asked.

"No…" I murmured, "Nothing."

"So you're just moping for no reason?" she said trying to get a rise out of me.

"No…"

I was like my father. I wouldn't let anyone in and I wouldn't talk to the ones who cared about me.

"So what's the reason?" she softened her expression. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Remembering what I told Jiro last night, I started crying. I couldn't take it. I couldn't handle it. I couldn't keep it in. Katara took Jiro's place by hugging me and letting me cry into her shoulder.

"Tara? What's wrong?" she said while hugging me.

"J-jiro…h-he asked s-someone else…" I said gasping.

"What?!" Katara seemed genuinely shocked at this.

"H-he didn't w-want me…" I stammered.

She let me cry for awhile into her shoulder.

"I'm so sorry…and I totally bragged to you this morning… I'm really sorry." Katara replied remorsefully.

"It's ok…I really am happy for you though." I sniffed. I was furiously trying to keep those stupid tears from rolling down my face.

"Well! You know what?" Katara said angrily. "That's his loss for not asking you! In fact I say you should ask someone else out to make him jealous!"

"What?! Does that really work?" I asked, appalled.

"Of course!" she said.

"But who'll ask me?" I asked glumly.

"I will." A boy's voice came from the other side of the street. He had curly blonde hair and brown eyes. I vaguely remembered his name to be Aizaku. He was one of the people who laughed at me when I came to school crying when my mother died. He was also, like Akito, a top firebending student and popular.

"Tara?" He said, crossing the street. "Will you go to the dance with me?"

I felt guilty using him like this but…

"Yes. I will." I said, trying to put a smile on my face.

"Great! I'll meet you outside the school at sundown." He said dismissively. He walked away and I saw how…unfeeling he was compared to Jiro.

"Who's Toph going with?" I asked trying to get the conversation away from me.

"Oh… she's going with Sokka." Katara said.

"Do you think….?" I was going to ask if Toph liked him.

"I really think she does…poor Toph. And all Sokka thinks about is his ex. Suki."

God this was turning out to be an interesting dance.


	9. Chapter IX

Author's note: HOLY CRAP!! We're already at the dance? omg i wasn't expecting this! i need to stop being so darn busy! darn it!! this is one of my favorite chapters...but i actually had a dream about this chapter before i wrote it. I was so excited i actually was dreaming about writing this chapter. but anyway Akito is the essence of Azula so if you guys were wondering where i got that from. I absolutely loved writing this chapter that it just gushed out of me. and if anyone can guess where i got the name of this chapter I'll give you 15,000 points! so anyway on to the first of my many favorite chapters!

Chapter IX: Dance of deadly flames.

The day of the dance, I still hadn't seen Jiro since the night he told me he asked Akito to the dance. I wanted to run to his house every second of the day and beg him to talk to me. But instead I had on my sparkly red dress that had a v-neck and spaghetti straps. I still had my mother's necklace with Jiro's charm on my neck and my bangs were tied back into a bun and the rest of my hair flew freely. My father even poked his head out of his bedroom to wish me luck. I wasn't excited about the dance at all but everyone else was thrilled. Toph and Sokka linked arms and were talking excitedly. Aang and Katara were beautiful together and they didn't take their eyes off each other. I walked alone behind the group as we went to school. Aizaku wasn't at school when i arrived so I just waited casually beside the steps.

"See you inside!" Toph called cheerily as I waved them in.

As they went inside, I saw Jiro and Akito. I wanted to run to him. I wanted to run away. I also wanted to punch Akito. Let me tell you, I was really confused. So I settled for glaring at them as they walked towards me.

"Hey Tara." Jiro mumbled to me. He stopped in front of me while Akito was waiting impatiently on his arm.

"Hi." I said icily back.

"Who're you waiting for?" he asked looking around. Akito sighed loudly.

"My date." I said coolly. "Ah! There he is!" I said as I spotted him walking towards us, thank god.

"Where?" Akito said as she tried to see past Aizaku. "I only see Aizaku."

"Hey beautiful!" Aizaku said waving to me. He ran up to us and put a flower bracelet on my wrist.

"Let's go!" He said linking my arm through his and we walked past Jiro and Akito's identically shocked faces.

We walked in the dimly lit gym. The music was beautiful (insert music from "The Headband" here). There were tables with food and fountains on it. And I already saw Aang and Katara dancing, spinning really, to a fast song. Toph and Sokka were at the food table laughing at something. Master Hisa took mine, Jiro, Akito and Aizaku's name down and ushered us inside.

"Wanna dance?" Aizaku asked slyly.

"Sure." I didn't want to ruin Aizaku's night along with mine.

Aizaku led me out to the dance floor and twirled me along with the rest of the girls. I was watching Jiro and Aizaku was watching other girls. When the song ended, I didn't want to dance anymore. All I wanted to do was watch Jiro. Maybe I could talk to him if I caught him at the right time.

"Um, Aizaku? I don't really want to dance right now…" I yelled over the music.

"Oh…is it ok if I dance with Mira?" A girl was giggling at us.

"Yeah, that's fine." I said while heading toward the snack table. I watched Jiro twirl Akito. _He looks like he's having fun at least…_I thought as I joined Toph and Sokka louging against the food table.

"Hey Tara!" Toph called.

"Hi Toph!" I yelled back.

"Katara was wondering if you'd want to come dance with us." She said.

"Sure, Toph!" I said smiling.

Instead of dancing with partners, everyone just free styled in a tight circle. I actually did have fun. But every time I saw Jiro with Akito, it felt like someone just kicked me in the stomach. After 5 fast songs, a slow song came on. Realizing I'd be ruining everyone's fun, I started to go.

"I'll just go back to the snack table…" I said to Katara.

"No, its ok-" she started to say.

"No really, I need something to drink." I said turning to go.

I really did need something to drink, but as the song wore on I found that I couldn't look at anyone but Jiro. I saw Akito whisper something in his ear and she flounced off. Jiro began to search for someone. I looked away in case he caught me watching. I watched Katara and Aang for awhile. They were looking into each other's eyes intensely. They didn't notice anyone around them and people had to get out of their way a few times. Toph and Sokka were really good dancers but Sokka kept making Toph laugh and she tripped a couple of times. I didn't even notice someone else was looking at me, until I felt a finger tap my shoulder. I turned around. It was Jiro. His eyes looked sad and even uncertain.

"May I have this dance?" His blue eyes were making my thoughts incoherent. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even remember why I was mad at him.

"Sure…" I said breathlessly.

I took his hand and he led me out to the dance floor. He put his hand on my hip and we were waltzing. I couldn't hear the music, although it must have been sweet. All I could hear was the beating of my heart. He twirled me once and I felt dizzy but then I was fine when Jiro was holding me again. Jiro broke the silence first.

"So where's Aizaku?" he asked bitterly.

"I think he was tired and wanted to rest for awhile…" I said still trying to make him jealous.

"Isn't that him right there?" he pointed our hands toward Aizaku dancing with Mira. Crap.

"Well, where's Akito?" I fired back.

He dipped me and brought his face quite close to mine.

"Who cares?" he whispered as he tried to kiss me, again.

I closed my eyes and…I was thrown backwards by something hot that hit my stomach. Akito stood over Jiro and looked downright murderous. Jiro stood up and placed himself between me and Akito.

"Aizaku?" Akito said, still staring me down.

Aizaku and some other huge boy hauled Jiro out of the way and Jiro was using all his strength to try to break free. Akito sent another fireball at my head and I ducked. Shoot! I can't fight back without waterbending! Akito seemed to somehow know this and was gloating.

"Why won't you fight back?" Akito mocked me. "You're so weak!" She laughed as she sent another fireball at my head. I bended it out of the way, like I saw Jiro do so many times before. Cackling, Akito used her forearm that was on fire, to knock me to the wall. "Ugh!" I groaned.

How did we get to the wall? I suddenly noticed that the music had stopped and I could see the rest of the people from the dance, watching us. Master Hisa was pushing to get around the throng of people. Jiro was yelling.

"Tara! Tara! Fight back Tara!" he was being held back by four guys now.

What could I do? I couldn't water bend. I didn't think I could fight back with the small amount of training that I had… But instead of pummeling my face, Akito thought that I need more torturing.

"Haha…I know you can't face me!" she whispered in my ear. "Isn't it tempting? To water bend here? But all your new friends would be so shocked. Not to mention the soldiers…" how did she know this? I felt suddenly afraid of her. How could she know my deepest secret?

"Jiro was angry at first, when I told him that I was going to tell." Now she was grinning evilly. "But then he told me he would do anything to protect you. It actually did work out well, hmmm?" She punched me in the face.

"I don't know why he would even care about a demon girl like you. You and your people are dangerous and so are you."

She raised her right hand to punch me again. But this time I caught it. She looked surprised. I was fuming. She blackmailed Jiro. She called the water tribe demons. My hate turned into fire. My hand that was crushing Akito's hand was slowly turning red and then finally a huge flame was blazing from my hand. Akito was whimpering in pain. I punched her in the face with my other hand which was burning too. She flew back a couple of feet. I didn't hesitate like she did though. I was shooting flames furiously. One after another I shot at her. I also found that I could do it with one hand, like water bending. Finally I couldn't take the stiff stance I had to have with fire bending so I started smoothly, fluidly bending the fire, like my water bending. The fire was like a whip and I started wrapping the fire around Akito, she stared at me in shock. Then she started screaming and whimpering from the burns. I stopped, it felt strange. I felt like I had to actually tell myself to stop. I had to fight the instinct that screamed for me to keep hitting her. I hated it. It was uncontrollable and satisfying at the same time. I cooled my hand and took a step back. I had just beaten up the girl who was the top bending student in the entire village.

Finally Master Hisa and the three fire nation soldiers burst through the crowd. One soldier broke up the struggle between Jiro and the four students. Jiro immediately ran over to me and held me close. One soldier tried to help Akito up and failed because she was screaming hysterically. He rounded on Master Hisa like it was her fault.

"What," said the soldier who had once threatened me, "do you teach these students?"

"I haven't even taught Tara anything yet." Master Hisa murmured while trying to help Akito up.

Everyone was being rushed out the gym door. I saw Aang, Katara, Sokka and Toph looking surprised. I faintly heard Toph whisper to Katara.

"I told you so."

I broke away from Jiro and melted into the crowd. No one stopped me. When I got outside, I ran to the forest. With tears in my eyes and my high heeled shoes in my hand, I ran to sanctuary.


End file.
